As usual Dinesh D'Souza is wrong. He sees the examples of the ancient Greeks and Romans practicing bisexuality as definitive proof that homosexuality is not innate. His theory is that since current Greeks and Romans don't practice rampant bisexuality (let's assume that's true for the moment being) and the ancient Greeks and Romans did, it must be a cultural thing. Not a genetic one.What if it were both? Which it is. That the human animal is capable (and interested) in bisexuality on a large scale and that this does not manifest itself until society is open to it. This is ironically very similar to the Christian right argument that we must guard against homosexuality because if society is left unguarded, homosexuality, or at least bisexuality, will run rampant. I agree. And I would add -- so what?What's funny about the Christian right argument is that they admit that they are powerless to stop feelings of homosexuality taking over if society opens up to it. What's going through their minds? Perhaps they're not so different from the ancient Greeks after all.Of course, as Kinsey showed, the difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality is not a sharp divide (I used to take credit for this idea until I realized Professor Kinsey had written about this before I was even born). It's not a black or white, gay or straight issue. Everyone is somewhere along the gay-straight spectrum.And the further society opens up to homosexuality as permissible, the more people feel comfortable coming out as bisexual, homosexual, omnisexual or whateversexual.

Let me give a quick and absurdly simplistic example. Let's assume 100 is completely gay and 0 is completely straight on our gay-straight continuum. A person who ranks a 95 on the gay scale is probably going to act out on those innate desires no matter what societal rules there are, even at the risk of being put to death in closed societies.

A person who is a 5 on that scale might never act on any trace bisexual desires he or she might have no matter what the societal norms are. But the more open a society is, the more you will start to draw in people who score an 85, 75, 65, 55, 45, 35, etc. on our fun little gay-straight line.

In a very closed society some one who is "80% gay" might never come out and in a very open society someone who is even "20% gay" might try it. These are gross simplifications, but you get the point. In fact, this is in some ways exactly what the culture warriors on the right have been warning about.

The Christian right (and the religious and cultural conservatives of a great many societies) have been worried about this for a long time. They are right. As society opens up, we will likely be more "gay." Or in reality, be closer to our true nature, wherever that might lie on the bisexuality continuum.

Where the cultural right is wrong is when they make a value judgment on that. Of course, there isn't anything wrong with that all. In fact, since it allows us to be closer to our "real" nature without societal judgments on our natural sexual preferences, there is something very right about it.As it stands, our current culture doesn't yet appear to be fully comfortable with a truly and widely bisexual society. So, we inch toward progress or slouch toward Bethlehem depending on your interpretation.

Though it must be noted that we have already achieved a great deal of openness on the female side of the equation. Ask around and see if you can find a woman under 25 who hasn't made out with one of their girlfriends.

My informal study on our show indicates about 80% of girls under 25 have at least tried a sexual experience with another woman (I concede that I am no Alfred Kinsey and my so-called evidence is wildly anecdotal, but ask for yourself and you'll see my numbers are shockingly accurate).

D'Souza uses history as his guide. It's ironic because his argument is ultimately against the tide of history and the inevitability of our genes. We know what the future holds, it is our past. The American people are right, our sexuality is innate. We just have to have the courage to own up to it.

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About Heather Cassell

Heather Cassell is founder and president of Whimsy Media, LLC, a professional writing, publishing and book marketing coaching and consulting firm for progressive independent small presses, individual self-publishers, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.
Currently, Cassell is working on an historic ghostwriting project, and is a regular contributor to the Bay Area Reporter, Bay Area BusinessWoman News, TheGlassHammer.com, Jane and Jane magazine, among other publications and new media. She is also coaching Dalya Massachi, founder and owner of Writing for Community Success, through her publishing and book marketing campaigns for the forthcoming, Writing to Make a Difference. Recently, she was the managing editor of the Western Edition Newspaper, Inc. and she assisted Nina Smith, founder and owner of Queercents.com, a queer financial syndicate, with her first book proposal.
Cassell’s work focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and women’s issues. Her work has appeared in the Bay Area Reporter, Oakland, Just Out, ON, $pread, Babble.com, and GoodVibrations.com among other publications and new media.